


Where my Heart Resides

by Frostbite711



Series: The Heroes of Thedas [3]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostbite711/pseuds/Frostbite711
Summary: Never in her life did she dream of going from someone hated and feared to being someone who everyone respected and still feared. Then again, she also didn't think she'd ever get a mark on her hand that would allow her to seal rifts in the fade, stop a civil war, defeat a fanatic who declared themselves a god, or fall in love.
Relationships: Female Adaar/Iron Bull, Female Inquisitor/Iron Bull
Series: The Heroes of Thedas [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878499





	Where my Heart Resides

The first thing Asala noticed when she came to was the shackles upon her wrists, binding them. They were heavy, though they probably would’ve been heavier on her if she wasn’t a Qunari, even if she was a mage. Then she felt a pain in her left hand and grunted, turning her wrist a bit inside her shackles so she could see what was causing the problem.  
There, sitting on her palm, was a glowing green mark that pulsed slightly. It was then that the door to the cell she was in swung open and two human females walked in, the soldiers pointing blades at her sheathing their weapons.  
One of the females, a warrior -- if her armor was anything to go off of, walked behind her before coming around to view her from the front, sizing Asala up. The Qunari shrunk just a tad, a bit frightened by the glare, and then even more so by the accusations that were spout at her from the warrior. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you. The conclave is destroyed, everyone who attended is dead...except for you.”  
She wanted to cower at the accusations, she knew she would never do something that horrible...unless she was being controlled by a demon -- it was possible. It has been known to happen, but that didn’t make any sense. She shook her head. “If you think I am responsible, that I killed all those people, then I would have to disagree. I would never kill innocent people -- good people, unless there was a good reason, or I was being controlled by someone or something else.”  
“Well, then explain this,” the warrior said, grabbing Asala’s left arm and holding it up as the green light pulsed again.  
Asala hissed as it did so. “I can’t.”  
“You can’t? What do you mean you can’t?”  
“I don’t know how that even got there or what it is!”  
“You’re lying!” the warrior shouted, getting into Asala’s face. The Qunari flinched just a tad before she straightened. She shouldn’t let this woman frighten her. She’d been surrounded by people all her life fearing her or hating her for being not just a Qunari, but a mage as well. A “Tal-vashoth Saarebas” to the Qunari or an “apostate” to everyone else.  
The other female pushed the warrior away. “We need her Cassandra,” she said.  
The warrior, Cassandra sighed. “You’re right. Go to the forward camp Leliana. I will take her to the rift,” she said.  
Leliana nodded and then turned, leaving Asala with Cassandra. Asala had a bad feeling about Cassandra, her walls going up to protect herself. She wouldn’t allow this human to catch her off guard with her harsh attitude again. Cassandra turned to Asala and walked over, taking off the heavy shackles and replacing it with some rope before she led her outside.  
Stepping outside, Asala covered her face at the harsh light that was different then that of the dungeons while her eyes adjusted. Once they had, she lowered her hands and spotted a giant glowing, pulsing, and eerie looking hole in the sky that had clouds swirling around it and rocks floating around it. As she stared up at it, she knew that whatever it was, it was not natural, much like the mark on her hand.  
“We call it the Breach. It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It’s one of many rifts that resulted from the explosion at the conclave, and it is the largest.”  
Asala frowned, that didn’t seem natural at all. Then again, neither did the mark on her hand. “An explosion can do that?” she asked.  
“Unless we act, the breach may grow until it swallows the world.”  
It was then that the “breach” pulsed, causing the mark on Asala’s hand to do so as well, shooting pain across her body. Pain that threatened to make her black out. She let out a shout and collapsed to her knees.  
“Each time the breach expands, your mark spreads...and it is killing you,” Cassandra told her while she crouched down to look at Asala. “It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”  
“You still think I did this, to myself?” Asala asked, looking at Cassandra with pain lacing her words.  
“Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong.”  
“And if I’m not responsible?”  
“Someone is, and you are our only suspect. If you wish to prove your innocence, this is the only way,” Cassandra answered.  
Asala sighed. “Fine, I’ll do what I can to seal the breach,” she said, getting to her feet, despite her hands being bound.  
Cassandra then led her through the small camp they had, explaining more about the breach and the conclave as best as the people here understood before she finally cut off Asala’s binds upon reaching a bridge. Asala rubbed her wrists, the slight sting from the ropes remaining for a few more minutes before she and Cassandra headed towards the breach.

Once again, she awoke in a strange place with no memory of how she got there, but this time she wasn’t bound in chains, but rather on a bed and in some sort of under-clothes. She sat up, shaking her head before glancing down at her hand. She was disappointed to see the mark still there, although it wasn’t pulsing like it had done before.  
She looked up as an elf walked in and dropped a crate on the floor before explaining the new situation: she was now called “The Herald of Andraste” and people weren’t as afraid of her or hateful of her. How strange. A Qunari mage not being hated. In fact, people actually accepting her? Even stranger.  
She decided not to think about it or dwell on it, and instead headed off to the Chantry where she was supposed to meet with Cassandra. All around her as she went, she spotted people watching her. She sped up her pace a tad, not liking the attention as she hunched her shoulders and entered the Chantry. After asking a question of one of the people in the chantry, they told her that Cassandra was.  
Opening the doors, she spotted Cassandra with Leliana and Chancellor Rodrique. The Chancellor as soon as he saw her ordered the guards to chain Asala, to which Cassandra stepped in and told them to leave. This surprised Asala to a degree, but she didn’t object and did her best not to show her surprise while Cassandra pulled out a large book and slammed it down on the table while she argued with the Chancellor.  
After the argument was over, the man left, leaving Asala with Cassandra and Leliana who explained to her more about something called the “Inquisition”.  
They discussed what it would try to accomplish and she was considering accepting -- mostly to help save the world from whatever was trying to destroy it, a thought came to her.  
“What if I just left? If I don’t want to be here?”  
Leliana looked at her. “Then you are free to go.”  
“But outside of this inquisition, we cannot protect you. The chantry will find you and most likely execute you,” Cassandra put in.  
Asala frowned, putting it like that, things were better if she stayed. Not that she could bring herself to leave something like the breach -- she was too damn selfless to do so. So she agreed, shaking Cassandra’s hand. “I guess I’m in,” she said as she did so.  
Cassandra gave her a smile and a nod. Asala knew that whatever her future had in store for her, her life would forever be changed by the mark and by the Breach in the sky. She just hoped she would have the strength to close it.


End file.
